following midnight
by Zion's Starfish
Summary: Harper and Beka eat pizza and decisions are made


following midnight  
by Zion's Starfish  
  
"Don't depend on anyone. In the end, it's just you and that 50-foot wave." ~ The World According to Seamus Harper, Chapter 1, Paragraph twelve.  
  
"Isfk scilo wesofjl, qenzai Keamuka Harper isqoh naokiq nkwozcho..."  
"Hey, boss? You in here?"  
Beka turned from the video feed as a dripping wet Harper tromped into the Maru's little kitchen.  
"News of your triumphant victory is all over the local news," she said as he unzipped his black wetsuit from neck to waist and pulled his arms out of the sleeves.  
His hair was sun-bleached and chaotic and he smelled like the surf, salty and fresh. His blue eyes were iridescent, shining like he'd glimpsed something intimate and mystical.  
"The waves were massive," was what he said. "I wish you could have stayed for the exhibition round."  
"Me, too, but at least I got to see you win. Hey, you're getting water everywhere." She threw him a towel.  
She noticed his kaleidoscopic shiner and matching bruises on his forearms. There was also a fat bandage on the side of his neck, just under his right ear.  
"You got pitched in the zone, didn't you?"  
Harper smirked and scrubbed his hair with the towel. "Fully, but, but, on my second run I was completely locked in the green room, baby. Uh, Captain."  
"Forget the titles, just let me see that trophy."  
He handed it over with the biggest grin she'd ever seen. She couldn't help smiling with him.  
Harper's trophy was a weighty hand-carved marvel. It was a dark luminescent green and depicted the Vastorrian's four moons. KEAMUKA HARPER had been freshly inscribed into the base.  
"Very cool." She traced the inscription with the tip of her finger.  
"That's not the coolest part, though, Bek. Tada!"  
With a flourish, Harper whipped out a small data pad.  
"The prize money in that little intra-galactic competition was eight hundred thrones. And... I want to share it with you."  
"Harper, you don't have to. You won this yourself."  
"Oh yeah? And who brought me here? Who invested in this log?" He throttled his surf board. "In me? Come on, Beka, let's add it to our pot."  
Beka gently pushed the data pad back towards Harper, strangely touched by his gesture. "Keep it. Add it to your own pot."  
Harper just stood there, dripping like a human popsicle. "Are you sure?"  
"I'm sure, Seamus. Want some coffee?" She grabbed two mugs and a filter out of the top cupboard. "I'll make that new stuff I bought in the market. Go shower, okay? Before you rust a hole in the deck?"  
"Whatever you say," he said, and smirked again before turning to leave.  
Beka grabbed the towel from his shoulder and smacked him on the rear with it. He skittered out of range before she could get in another hit and his laughter followed him down the hallway.  
~~~~~~~~  
  
She watched Harper blow the steam off his coffee and take a gigantic slurp as she reached for another slice of pizza from her half. It was free because the delivery guy hadn't been able to find their docking port within 19 minutes, which made it taste extra good.  
"Why don't you try mine?" Harper asked, waggling his eyebrows. "You always get mushrooms and green peppers. Live a little." He reached for the sugar dispenser and poured a steady stream into his mug.  
She eyed his half of the pizza. "Gorgonzola cheese and Eflusian nightcrawlers? Harper, I am not touching anything with worms on it or anything that begins with 'gorgonzola'."  
"Your loss," he snickered, and drained his cup. He went to the coffee maker for a refill.  
She opened her mouth to tell Harper to fill her cup while he was at it but was interrupted by the sound of pounding on the airlock.  
"I'll get it!" Harper yelled, and scampered off.  
"Hey, if it's the delivery guy, tell him he's out of luck, okay? We already ate the damn pizza."  
```Beka sighed with her mouth full. It was nice splitting pizza with someone again. Especially free pizza. She got up to pour herself some coffee when she heard Harper's voice.  
"Ohcrapohcrapohcrap!"  
The mug dropped from her hand and smashed on the deck. She grabbed her laser rifle off the counter and headed down the hall, hugging the wall.  
"Harper, are you okay?" she called. The airlock was just around the corner...   
"CRAP! Beka, we've gotta get out of here!"  
She heard the airlock door slamming shut and footsteps hammering the deck. Harper nearly trampled her as he stampeded around the corridor at full tilt. Beka whirled around and followed him back to Command.  
He vaulted in the slipstream chair and buckled up.  
"What the hell is going on?" she yelled as Harper detached the docking clamps. She could hear a barrage of weapons fire and it was too close for comfort. "Harper! Tell me what's going on, or so help me-"  
"Transiting to slipstream... now!"  
Beka, not having a chance to grab onto anything, including Harper's scrawny little neck, lurched forward and managed to whack her head against a support beam. As darkness caved in, she wondered if this day could get any better.  
Beka woke up with a firecracker headache. She was in the small but sufficiently-stocked infirmary on the Maru, she knew that much. And that she was going to kill Harper.  
She opened her eyes and said, "Harper, you little psycho-what...? You're... you're not Harper."  
Her mouth dropped open at the sight of a Magog standing in front of her. A Magog wearing a dark grey robe and an odd medallion around his neck.  
"Harper... where's Harper?"  
The Magog tilted his head in the most non-threatening way. "The young man? He's in the engine room. He asked me to keep an eye on you and to notify him immediately or any changes to your condition."  
Beka blinked. Yup, he was still standing there. There was something wrong with this picture...  
"He asked you to keep an eye on me?"  
"Would you like me to inform him of your awakening?"  
"Uh... okay. Wait! I'm feeling better. I'll come with you." She swung her legs off the table. "I didn't catch your name."  
"Most people call me Rev, but I am called Brother Behemial Far Traveler."  
"That's very... picturesque."  
"Thank you."  
  
Harper was in the engine room as Rev had said. She felt a little weird leaving a Magog at the top of the ladder as she climbed down but she wanted to talk to Harper alone. He was twisting two wires together under a console, welding goggles on.  
She crouched down beside him and said, "Hey, Harper."  
"Hey, boss. You're awake!" He slid out and pushed up his goggles.   
"Harper, this is going to sound a little weird, but are you feeling okay?"  
He shrugged. "Yeah, I feel fine. You could pass me my Sparky, though."  
She passed it over.  
"And... you met Rev?"  
"Furry, a little rank smelling?"  
"That's him." Beka wondered how to put it delicately. "He's a Magog."  
"Yeah? What's a Magog?"  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"While nothing injures like words, nothing heals like words either. It's pretty freakin' ironic that we can't heal without hurting first." ~ The World According to Seamus Harper, Chapter 4, Paragraph one.  
  
Rev rubbed his arm as he sat down at a small table in what was apparently the Maru's dining area. He could smell the congealed cheese and deep fried dough coming from a square box on the counter and his stomach growled ominously. He scratched at his arm.  
Beka pulled a broom from the corner and started sweeping up shards of ceramic. "So, before you start explaining everything to me, do you want some coffee?"  
"No, thank you."  
"Fine." Beka dumped all the shards in a container and pulled up the chair in front of him. "So talk."  
"Where should I... begin?"  
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe from the part when you banged on my ship and made some very angry people chase us across two galaxies and shoot at us?"  
"I am sorry, Beka. Please forgive me. Believe me when I say that I meant no harm."  
He met her eyes. He could feel her anger and her heart pounding. He pulled at the fur on his arm.  
She sighed. "Rev, I didn't mean anything by that. I'm worried about Harper. He seems a little... off."  
"In what way?"  
Beka eyed him. He knew she couldn't read his vital signs like a Magog could but humans were sometimes uncannily perceptive. She bit her lip and ran her hand through her hair. "Look, I'm not looking to betray his confidence but maybe should know a few things about him. Harper was born on Earth."  
"He survived the attacks?" He couldn't keep the awe out of his voice.  
"Survived is a better word than you know. Look, I've known him for like a month but I know two things for sure about him. He's addicted to caffeine and he hates Magog."  
"But... he accepted my help."  
"Uh-huh."  
"And he wasn't in the least off-put upon seeing me."  
"Uh-huh."  
"And now he doesn't seem to recognize my species."  
Beka sighed. "Uh-huh. There was this one night. Harper and I were celebrating a successful salvage run. We both had a little too much to drink and... he told me that he'd buried most of his family. At first I thought he was speaking figuratively, like he'd finally let go of his past. At least, that's what it sounded like to me."  
"And now?"  
Beka shrugged. "I don't know."  
Rev stood up. "It is not fair to him. I should leave."  
"Well, that's fine in theory, but there's four things I hope you've considered. One, your friends out there. I've checked the damage report that Harper gave me. They seem awfully eager to get their hands on you. Two, we aren't going anywhere for a while. As long as this friendly ionic cloud cover we're drifting in remains intact, we should be okay but our slipstream drive is shot. We need time to fix it. And three, you don't have a ship. And four, well, I can't think of a four right now, but I'm pretty damned sure there is one, okay?"  
Rev paused. Hadn't Brother Blake told him that when the Divine opened a way, he should walk it with his eyes and heart open?  
"Perhaps... you are right." He sat back down. "May I ask you a question?"  
"Shoot."  
"What are the Magog known for?"  
"Uh, Rev..."  
"Yes. I know. My people are responsible for hideous crimes, spanning farther back than even the fall of the Commonwealth." He tugged at the fur on his arm again. "A reward has been put out for the head of a Magog. Any Magog. Apparently, I have been chosen by two human bounty hunters. What do you think?" He was unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. Beka's rifle lay on the table between them and he couldn't help the fear that rose in him like a tidal wave.  
"Rev-"  
"Beka? Hey, Beka?"  
Rev nearly sighed with relief as Harper walked in. His back and shoulders were stiff.  
"I have a question for you. Beka, you in here?"  
"What's up?" she asked.  
"I was just wondering, what the hell is this?"  
Harper ripped off the bandage on his neck, revealing a small silver disc just under his right ear.  
"This. What the hell is this? I've never seen it before, oh man, oh man..."  
Beka got up and took his arm. "Harper, calm down."  
"So, uh, so, you know what this is, right?"  
"I have no idea."  
"What? I've been living on this ship for a month and you never asked me what it was?" he squeaked.  
Rev could smell the adrenaline racing in his veins.  
"Harper, since we met I've never seen you without a turtleneck. You always say you're cold."  
"And you believed me?"  
"Harper..."  
"And I found this picture in my quarters but I have no idea who they are!" Harper shoved a framed photo under Rev's nose of a much younger Harper and two other kids about the same age. "I know who you are," he said, pointing at Beka, "and I think I know who I am, but-"  
"Harper, breathe."  
"Sorry, sorry. I'm just... freaked."  
Beka squeezed his arm gently. "We'll figure it out, I promise. We aren't going anywhere without the slipstream drive but maybe the Maru's scanners can help us figure out what we're dealing with up here." She tapped Harper's head.  
"What? No way am I letting either of you poke around my mind. It's mine!"  
"I'm not going to fix anything, Seamus, I'm just going to look around."  
That got a shaky laugh out of him.  
"But you guys need me to repair the drive. Rev's buddies might be right around the corner and we're sitting ducks."  
"You aren't the only one who knows how to repair a slipstream drive," Beka said.  
"Yes, but I can do it faster."  
"One scan. Okay?"  
Harper rolled his eyes. "Fine. Can we get it over with already?"  
Beka, still holding his arm, lead him out of the dining area. Rev took a long look at the framed photo, set it down carefully, and followed.  
~~~~~~~~  
  
"What's with your arm?" Harper asked.  
Beka was setting up the scanners in the corner of the infirmary and Rev had just scratched his arm for the umpteenth time. Harper was sitting on the examining table, kicking his legs up and down like an anxious child.  
"It's been like this ever my ship was destroyed."  
"By the people chasing you?"  
"...Yes."  
"Do you want me to take a look at it?"  
"I'm sure I will be fine."  
"Hey, it's no problem. You hop up here."  
Harper hopped down from the table and put on strange looking goggles. Rev pulled himself up. It wasn't the first time he wondered how Harper would treat him if he knew the truth about the Magog. And it wasn't the first time he felt guilty for being the one to hide the truth.  
"How did you manage to do this to yourself? There's glass everywhere," Harper said, clipping away the matted fur on Rev's arm with a small pair of scissors.  
"I was trying to repair the effusion tank on my ship, the Plain of Six Glaciers. A runaway fuse exploded."  
Harper frowned at him. "Your runaway fuses are made of glass? How old was that ship of yours, anyway? I mean, glass? You're just asking for a pelt full of it, I'm telling you..."  
Rev stared, open mouthed. He'd never heard anyone talk so much at one time. It was... baffling.  
"Ah," Harper announced, mid-rant, "there's your problem."  
"What is it?"  
He shoved up his goggles. "Easy. In addition to all the lacerations, you've got a glass fibre stuck under your skin and it's been healed over. No wonder it's been bugging you."  
"I... had no idea."  
"Don't worry, Doctor Harper is in the house. I'm going to numb the area, cut open the healed over part-" Harper held up a laser scalpel, "-and pull that baby out of there. Ready?"  
As Harper bent to the task, Rev said, "How is it you know so much about these devices?"  
"Well, I am a freaking genius."  
"Perhaps besides that?"  
Harper straightened. "Tell you the truth? I don't know. I mean, I think I do know, but right now I'm not sure that I know what I do know."  
"I see."  
Harper laughed. "Yeah. Imagine how I feel." He picked up a thin pair of tweezers and plucked out the fragment of glass. "Gotcha!"  
"You kids done playing over here?" Beka asked, dragging the scanner towards the table.  
"All done," Harper said. "I'm ready for my close up, Ms. Valentine."  
~~~~~~~~  
  
"You're telling me there are nanobots in this coffee? I don't believe it. Nanobots in the coffee? Nanobots?"  
Rev stared at Beka, who was staring at the brown sludge under the sub-micro scanner.  
"Harper's brain scan revealed tiny nicks in his memory pathways," he said. "I have seen similar patterns before, in populations whose nanobots infiltrated their agriculture."  
"So you checked out our food."  
"You did say that you bought the coffee beans from Vastor."  
"Crap. CRAP. I don't believe this. You're telling me that these nanobots ate Harper's memories? Is it permanent?" Beka looked over at Harper, who was tucked under a blanket, sleeping off the effects of a light sedative.  
"It's hard to say. The severed pathways in Harper's brain are concentrated in his long-term memory. Childhood. Adolescence."  
"Which explains why he doesn't remember taking that photo or the people in it."  
Rev scratched his arm. "Or growing up in the midst of Magog attacks. But memory is tricky. Sometimes the pathways reconnect themselves in time. Sometimes... the memory loss is more extensive and irreversible."  
"So what can we do?"  
"Fix the slipstream drive and get Harper to a hospital."  
Beka sighed. "Harper hates hospitals."  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Rev stared out at the stars and then down at Harper's photograph and the flexi in his hands. All was strangely quiet for once. Beka was in the engine room and Harper was in his quarters.   
He nearly dropped the photo at the sound of scuffling footsteps in the hall. Harper appeared in the doorway, barefoot and in a T-shirt and shorts.  
"Harper, I thought Beka told you to get some rest."  
Rev crumpled the flexi and hid it behind his back.  
"Beka tells me a lot of things." He yawned enormously and rubbed at his left eye. "So, whatcha looking at?"  
"Um, your photo. You left it here and I was just... it looks like you, and yet, it doesn't."  
Harper came closer and picked up the frame. "I look so... thin. So does he, and she. I wish I could remember who they are."  
"You must be friends. Look at the way their arms are around you."  
"I... guess. But I don't remember them. What would they think of me?"  
"Just because you forget doesn't mean that you've stopped being friends. I'm sure they remember you, and it is enough."  
"It still sucks, though. It's like my whole life started the moment I stepped on board the Maru and it's kind of scary. I don't have a past."  
"Many people wish they were in your position."  
"Like who, huh?"  
"Like... me."  
Rev took a deep breath and uncrumpled the flexi. Harper pulled it out of his hand.  
"I don't understand. What is all this?"  
"My people's legacy."  
"Rev?"  
"I am truly sorry, Harper."  
He wanted to leave, avoid the pain that he was about to cause, but that would have been even more cowardly than any of his people's actions.  
He took a step back and watched Harper's face as he read the words Rev knew by heart.  
"WANTED, DEAD. REWARD: 5000 THRONES."  
The flexi proceeded to list all the worlds which the Magog had decimated. It was a long list. He wasn't sure who had put out the money, but in all honesty, he didn't really blame any family for wanting some kind of retribution.  
Harper lowered the flexi and looked at him. Rev clamped down on the urge to read Harper's vitals. It wouldn't be fair.  
"I've taken lives," Rev said finally.  
And Harper just stared.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"There is no such thing as love. Love means feeling safe, wanted, beautiful. There is no such thing as love." ~ The World According to Seamus Harper, Chapter 2, Paragraph six.  
  
Harper watched his feet as he headed to his quarters. He was shaking and he wished he hadn't gone barefoot. He wrapped his arms around his middle and walked faster.  
Rev was... weird. Yeah, that was it. The guy had probably drank too much seawater, or surfaced too fast and gotten bubbles in his blood, or something. But his eyes... Harper hadn't seen so much hurt in... in...  
"FACK!" he screamed to nobody in particular, and kept walking. Damn, it was cold.  
Harper wasn't sure what he was supposed to be feeling. The flexi had said Earth. Beka had said that he was from Earth. Harper shook his head violently. Rev had looked like he'd expected Harper to be mad, or to hit him, or something. But Harper had just turned around and run out. Shaking.  
Harper thought maybe he was supposed to be mad. But was it fair if he didn't know what the hell he was supposed to be mad about?  
He stepped into his quarters and jumped into bed, covering himself with the blanket and cramming the end under his chin. He curled into a little ball and promptly fell asleep.  
Harper dreamed he was walking in a green meadow, barefoot. Each blade of grass between his toes felt like silk. The sun slowly warmed his back and a gentle breeze brushed his skin. Before him lay a lake just like the one captured on a postcard he'd stolen when he was nine.  
He dropped the shovel he'd been carrying in his blistering, raw hands and stepped into the mud by the lip of the water.  
He thought of the cool water against his skin. He thought of his lungs straining for air.  
Hadn't Declan promised to teach him to swim this summer?  
The silence would finally end, he reasoned, and stripped down.  
  
"Harper? Are you awake?"  
Harper jerked out of sleep with a gasp. He shot upright, whacking his forehead on the upper bunk.  
"Ah, fack!" Blindly he fumbled around on the table for the open can of Sparky he'd had half of for dinner. Judging by the time-Harper cracked open an eye and looked at his clock-it should still be cold.  
A fuzzy hand gripped his wrist and a nice, tall, cold can was placed in his grip. Harper sighed with relief and pressed it to his aching head. He noticed his heart was racing. Probably from the dream, he thought, of which he could remember only vague shadows. Oh well.  
He peered at Rev in the darkness.  
"Uh, you rang?"  
"I am sorry to disturb your rest but Beka needs you in Command. We've been spotted."  
"Great, just frelling great." He put down the can and wiped his forehead with his shirt. No blood. That was good. "Let's go. I don't want to become mincemeat any more than you do."  
The Maru rumbled under Harper's feet as he sprinted onto Command. Beka was behind the weapons console.  
"Hey, took you long enough, Harper. I need you on sensors-what the hell happened to your face?"  
"Face, meet upper bunk. Hello, upper bunk," Harper quipped. "Did you get the engines on-line?"  
"One, but it's not going to do us a hell of a lot of good."  
Harper watched as a ship at least three times the Maru's size came into view.  
"Why can't the bad guys ever come after us in a decrepit clunker with sub-standard weapons and a second-hand slipstream drive?"  
"Uh, maybe we can talk them into not blowing us into smithereens. They're hailing us."  
"This is Captain Valentine of the Eureka Maru. If you know what's good for you, you'll back off NOW."  
"You have something that belongs to us, Captain. Hand him over and we won't destroy your ship." The voice was male and pissed off.  
A second voice added, "We're gonna pull his fur out chunk by chunk, and then we're gonna slice his ears off."  
"Oh yeah? You and what army?" Harper said.  
"From our scans of your ship, it seems that we don't need an army," the first voice said. "Prepare to be boarded."  
The link was severed.  
"Harper, seal all the doors and get to the weapons locker, now."  
"Uh, Beka?"  
"What is it?"  
Harper looked around Command. "Uh, where's Rev?" He poked at the internal sensors. "Crap! He's in the cargo bay and the freakin' door's not responding. What the hell is he doing in there?"  
"I think... he's trying to surrender."  
"What?"  
~~~~~~  
"Rev! Get your furry butt back in here! You don't have to do this."  
Beka pounded on the cargo bay door. Harper handed her a rifle and took one for himself.  
Rev didn't even acknowledge her words.  
Harper propped his gun against the wall and eyed the control panel. Nine buttons. Hm.  
Harper felt Beka's hand on his shoulder and he jerked away.  
"We can't just let them take him. They're going to cut off his ears!"  
Beka shook her head but her eyes were full of compassion. "Harper, there's not much chance of breaking down this door before those mercenaries break down the airlock. There's nothing you can do," she said gently.  
"Beka, aren't you even a little bit sick of people telling us that? You can't do this, you can't do that, don't walk on the grass, don't drink the water, don't go up against guys twice your size. Rules! They're made for breaking."  
He dug his fingernails under the metal rim and pulled, but it wouldn't budge.  
"Sometimes deferring to self-preservation isn't such a bad choice," she said.  
"Sometimes things are more important."  
"Sometimes you're an ass, Harper. You do want to get us killed." She sighed and Harper smiled. "You owe me for this, Seamus. You know how I hate heights. But he's in there and you're out here."  
"I'm working on it!"  
Finally, Harper just smashed in the panel with his fist, ripping his hand open in a mess of red. "Oww!"  
He grabbed his tool belt off the floor and rummaged around in the pockets. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but...  
"Harper, what are you doing?"  
Harper grabbed a length of cable and inserted one end into the port on the side of his neck. He stuck the end into the jack in the panel and closed his eyes.  
"Go, Beka, I'll be fine."  
He wasn't really sure how he knew any of this but he had to help Rev. And to do that, he needed the doors open.  
Vaguely, he was aware of the Maru shuddering under his feet. That probably meant the bounty hunters' ship had docked with theirs. He was running out of time.  
Harper shook his head and tried to focus on the door's locking mechanism. The fuzziness cleared and he could see it in his mind's eye. It was like an electronic version of a combination lock with three tumblers, nine possible numbers for each. Crap. Two hundred and forty three possibilities. Technically it was just a matter of time before he hit the right combination.  
Time Rev didn't have.  
Harper had a nagging feeling he was supposed to be good at this. A freaking genius, right?  
He spun the tumblers.  
Come on, open sesame, he chanted.  
Thudthudthud.  
Crap.  
  
He could hear screaming coming from behind the doors. A fizz of electricity.  
He spun the tumblers again.  
Thudthudthud.  
"Crap!"  
  
He heard the crackle of an electrical current again, and laughing.  
Harper shook his head. He was supposed to be good at this. Why else would he have had the damn port installed in his stupid brain, anyway?  
Maybe it was like piloting the slipstream. Maybe he had to make a conscious choice, and by doing so, it would automatically become the right choice.  
So it was a load of crap. It was the only thing he had left.  
He walked up to the first tumbler and chose a number.  
Click.  
Reached over to the second and chose a number.  
Click.  
Reached over to the third tumbler and chose a number.  
CLICK.  
The doors slid open.  
  
Rev was lying on the floor on his side. One arm was jerking erratically.  
"Step away from the furball, assholes."  
Two human males, obviously testosterone-loaded, looked up to see Harper ten feet away, pointing a rifle at them.  
"And who might you be?" one asked.  
"Seamus Zelazny Harper, resident super-genius," he said, pouring sarcasm and vile into his voice. It was strange, because he still really wasn't sure who he was. "I'm about to make your bad day worse. Who the hell are you?"  
"Jasper," the taller man holding the gun said.  
"Avandi. Our names are on the bounty."  
He tossed a flexi at Harper, who let it fall at his feet.  
"We'll be on our way."  
He reached for Rev but froze when Harper took another step forward. "Step away from the furball."  
Avandi held up a black box with prongs at the end.  
Harper realized he could smell burnt flesh.  
"Don't get too close, kid. Wouldn't want to shock you too."  
Harper swallowed but held his ground. His hand hurt; it was bleeding pretty badly and he could hear the drip-drip-drip as blood spattered the floor.  
Jasper and Avandi exchanged an amused look.  
"Look, kid, you should be happy we're taking him off your hands. You're lucky you're still in one piece after having him on board," Jasper said.  
"I said, step away from the furball." Still they didn't move. "If I have to repeat myself one more time, I get to kick in your kneecaps."  
Slowly, Avandi straightened from Rev's twitching form.  
"There's two of us and only one of you, kid and there's nothin' you can do about it."  
"Oh yeah?"  
Harper kept his gaze riveted to the bad guys as a long spiral of coil dropped neatly behind them.  
"You're right, Harper," Beka said, sliding down the cord from the upper deck. "I *am* sick of people telling me that." She smiled and pointed her gun at Jasper. "It's your move, boys."  
"Guys? Care to redo your math?" Harper said.  
"Two against two. That's not-hey!" Avandi said as he was grabbed by the formerly sedate Magog lying at his feet.  
"Try again," Rev snarled, before hitting Avandi in the face with a venom spray.  
Harper knew vaguely that he should have been helping. But all he seemed to be able to do is stare, transfixed, as Avandi struggled and screamed, clutching his face. In Harper's peripheral vision he saw Beka waltz up to Jasper and hit him with the butt of her rifle.  
"Rev, you okay?" she called.  
Harper watched as Rev let Avandi drop to the ground and surreptitiously wiped his mouth. "I believe I am fine. As should our friend here, in a few hours."  
"We should get you to a doctor just in case," Beka said. She tucked her gun away.  
"Yeah, good idea," Harper said, and fell down.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Oww!" Harper said as he woke up. He looked at the ceiling. Damn. He knew that ceiling. Freakin' infirmary again. "Beka?"  
He rubbed his eyes.  
"Master Harper?"  
Harper sat up slowly, struck by the owner of the voice. It was... it was... a.. [i]Magog?[/i] Something feral and ancient grabbed him by the wrist and wouldn't let go. His heart pounded so hard he was sure Rev could hear it.  
"What time is it?" he croaked.  
"You were unconscious for only a few minutes, Harper."  
He flinched at the sound of his name and for some reason he couldn't quite understand, so did Rev.  
"I was about to bandage your hand," Rev said.  
"My..." Harper looked at his bloody palm. "How did I do that?"  
"You opened a panel with it, rather forcefully."  
Harper switched his gaze to Rev again. "And... why did I do that?"  
Rev tilted his head. "Master Harper, you don't remember?"  
"I... remember-"  
  
laughing with Declan and Siohban as a street vendor took their picture;  
screaming-tearing-flesh-claws-burning;  
digging graveaftergraveaftergraveafter  
  
"Don't worry, Harper," Rev said quietly. "I will remember you."  
drifting bonelessly under the stars;  
waiting for dawn;  
  
As Harper held out his hand, the fear died, and he found he really didn't miss it at all.   
~~~~~~~  
  
"You won't need nanobots," Rev said. He meticulously wound a strip of bandage around Harper's hand.  
"Good, 'cause do you know how much medical nanobots cost? Beka would kill me if she knew how much I tend to get sick. Uh... you won't tell her, will you?"  
Rev dipped his head. "Your secret is safe with the Divine." He tied off the ends of the bandage and snipped off the excess. "You're lucky to have each other."  
"I... guess. Um, how are you doing?"  
"I am slightly well-done in places and my fur is singed, but otherwise I am fine."  
They both turned at the sound of footsteps in the hallway.  
"I've sent our mercenary friends packing. How's Harper?" Beka asked, hurrying in. She stopped abruptly and stared first at Harper and then at Rev. Harper wasn't sure what she was looking at, but somehow, she knew. "So. You two have met?"  
~~~~~~~  
  
"I never had a human friend before," Rev said.  
"Well, you have plenty of time to make more. We meet all sorts of people on our salvage runs," Beka said.  
"I can't stay."  
Harper was stunned. "What? Bounty hunters: gone. My memory: between my ears. There's no reason you can't stay."  
"Two mercenaries may have given up but the money remains. I will not endanger you or Beka. Please drop me off at the nearest port as soon as the drive is fixed?"  
"Beka, we can't let him leave like that. We have to do something."  
"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right," Beka said. "There's no way we can keep each person who decides to take a run at the money off our backs forever unless we take out the person who it up in the first place. Don't you dare look at me like that, Seamus."  
"I have eight hundred thrones," Harper said suddenly. "It's not much, but-"  
"-when you add it to three thousand thrones, maybe-"  
"No," Rev said abruptly. "Please. I won't take your money and I won't take out a contract on someone's head."  
"It's not the same thing, Rev. I mean, someone's out there trying to kill you."  
"You are right, Master Harper. It is not the same thing. It would be infinitely worse."  
Harper snorted. "Well, sorrrrrry for trying to save your life, okay? I just, I just don't want..."  
He felt a clawed hand press gently on his shoulder. "But I thank you," Rev said softly. "I will try to return."  
Harper nodded. "You'd better," he said softly.  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harper wandered down the hall into Command. He was barefoot and shivering but he could smell coffee. The regular stuff.  
He found Beka with her arms crossed on the back of the slipstream chair, watching the stars. Harper filled a mug with coffee, dumped in some sugar and joined her.  
"Do you think he'll come back?" he said.  
"I hope so."  
"I think so do I."  
"So are you ever going to tell me how you got that cerebral port thingy?"  
"I don't have to tell you everything about me for us to be friends, do I?"  
Beka glanced at him. He wondered at the frown on her face a moment before she changed it into a small smile.  
"Nope."  
"Okay."  
They stood there in quiet for a few moments. Harper felt himself getting twitchy; he was never good at being quiet, even with as good a friend as Beka.  
"Beka? Did you ever think... I'd be happier that way? Without..." Harper gestured vaguely around his left ear.  
"You mean..." She paused and watched his face, maybe wondering if voicing his nightmares would give them power. "...all the death and stuff? I think I hoped you'd be able to make your own choices. With help, if you wanted it."  
"Oh." Harper exhaled softly. He rubbed his cold hands against the sides of the mug. "It wasn't all bad, you know?"  
Beka turned back to the stars. "I know."  
"Huh? How?"  
"I look at you and I know."  
He followed her gaze out the window.  
"Did you know that the starlight we're seeing right now is millions of years old and has traveled millions of light years?"  
"I think everyone knows that, Harper."  
"That's good. I just wanted to be sure."  
  
  
the end  
  
"It doesn't matter if a friendship lasted a lifetime or a heartbeat. It existed." ~ The World According To Seamus Harper, Epilogue  
  
September 12, 2001  



End file.
